Sixty six captive chimpanzees in Liberia, Africa have been abandoned by the New York Blood Center (NYBC)—an organization with assets of $450 million and major corporate partners. The chimpanzees are in danger of dehydration and starvation. Please sign the petition to urge NYBC to reinstate funding for this chimpanzee colony before it’s too late!

For years, NYBC used these chimpanzees in medical research, infecting many of them with hepatitis viruses. After decades of confinement, these chimpanzees do not have the skills to survive in the wild. They are completely reliant on humans for survival, but despite previously committing to the lifetime care of these chimpanzees, NYBC recently withdrew all funding for the care of the chimpanzees in March. Effectively they have left these poor chimpanzees to suffer from dehydration and starvation.

The New York Blood Center is a large American organization that provides blood, develops blood related products, but it also conducts medical research. In the 1970's, NYBC worked with the Liberian Institute for Biomedical Research to create Vilab II to obtain and breed chimpanzees for use in medical research.

After using and profiting from them for decades, NYBC decided the chimps were no longer needed for future research and retired them to small islands near the lab. NYBC publicly proclaimed their commitment to the lifetime care of the chimpanzees, but walked away from their ethical responsibility when they stopped all funding for the chimpanzees' care.

We owe our thanks to the longtime caretakers who have continued to care for the chimpanzees voluntarily but this is not a sustainable solution for the chimpanzees or their caretakers. Without money to provide for the needs of these chimpanzees, they will suffer from dehydration and starvation.

These chimps need your voice to survive so please sign my petition asking NYBC to fulfill their promise of lifetime care for these chimpanzees. I will also send your messages to NYBC’s corporate partners (Metlife, IBM and Citigroup) to let them know about your concern.

After signing the petition, please visit the fundraising page to donate for the emergency care of these chimps.